A Guide to Hampstead Parish Church
In 1986 St John-at-Hampstead celebrated its millennium
The commemorative stone in the centre aisle causes much confusion to visitors who wonder how we managed to get in 14 years ahead of the rest of the world. The date refers back to a supposed charter granting the land to the Benedictine monks of Westminster. The document is of uncertain authenticity but is presumed to back up a fact the monks felt was inadequately recorded elsewhere. Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042-1066) confirmed all grants made to the Church by Ethelred (reigned 978-1013, 1014-1016) and Dunstan (Bishop of London from 909 – 988).
It seems unlikely the monks built a church and much more probable that they farmed the land to feed their community. But Benedictines whatever they are doing break off to pray the daily offices at regular intervals throughout the day and they would have needed a chapel. Hence we claim there has been a place of worship here for over 1,000 years. (Since Roman cinerary urns dating from 90-124AD have been found in Well Walk we could suppose the religious significance of Hampstead to go back even further but not on our site.)
The first real references to a church begin in 1312 when John de Neuport was priest and in 1333 when a Chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary is recorded.
With the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII the Benedictine foundation of Westminster disappeared and was replaced by the Bishopric of Westminster under Thomas Thirlby who was also rector of this church. He appointed Thomas Chapelyne as Vicar in 1545. In 1551 Edward VI suppressed the see and granted the manor and benefice of Hampstead to Sir Thomas Wrothe. A list of incumbents can be found in the porch and the Parish Records run continuously from 1560.
A gravestone preserved within this building records one John Rixton who died in 1658 leaving a bequest to provide bread for the poor. The stone is in the north transept, the Bread Cupboard in the Chapel beyond.
As Hampstead expanded, growing steadily more popular for its clean air and elevated position, people came to take the waters from the well in Well Walk and it was much patronised by the rich and famous – so much so in fact that the chapel became inadequate for the needs of the growing population and plans were put in hand to build a new church.
Pictures show the church at this time to be part stone, part timber, with a small wooden tower – rather a jumble in fact – picturesque but small and, by 1744, in so dangerous a condition that people hesitated to use it. Clearly it was time for a change.
The Trustees first petitioned Parliament for £2,500 to assist in the rebuilding but were rejected. The Lord of the Manor granted £1,000 and the rest had to be raised by public subscription, by mortgaging the offertory and by charging pew rents. (There were always some free seats for the poor.) Pews were designated by means of small brass name holders, all but one of which were removed when the church was redecorated in 1985. This lone sample can be found in the north aisle, about halfway down, on the pew belonging to E. V. Knox, editor of Punch.
The first architect approached was Henry Flitcroft who offered to put in a plan for the new church free provided he had no competition but “in the Case of a Competitor he would have nothing to do with it”.
The Trustees resolved that “no person refusing to have a Competitor shall be Employed as surveyor in building of Hampstead New Church” and Flitcroft withdrew. He did, however, give £25 towards the building of the new church and was awarded pew No.10.
The Trustees finally chose John Sanderson, although they argued with his original design and finally chose plan No.3 with the steeple at the East end – a cheaper construction as the land fell away sharply to the west.
The tower was to cause much controversy – the design was changed in 1759 and evidence of subsidence can be seen on the outside northeast corner, said to be the result of the use of Purbeck stone rather than Portland (which premise is hotly disputed by the quarrymen of Purbeck who maintain their stone is just as good!) The copper spire was added in about 1783.
The church at that time was much smaller than it is today, extending only as far as the transepts – a simple rectangle. The village lying to the east of the site, the congregation entered by two doors either side of the main altar; the central door did not exist, the area under the tower being the vestry. The door in the west end of the church and terraces, intended as the ‘main’ entrance, were largely unused, except by the Lords of the Manor. There has always been a gallery.
The church was consecrated on 8th October 1747 by the Bishop of Llandaff (as commissary of the Diocesan) with a dedication to St John – sadly no one thought to specify which St John, although in 1917 the then Bishop of London declared it to be the Evangelist. Perhaps because of the uncertainty over the designation, the parish makes much of its Dedication Festival on or around 8th October rather than celebrating a patronal festival.
By 1827 the church was too small to accommodate the growing population – it could seat 1,052 and the population of the parish had swelled to some 8,000 inhabitants, many of whom needed free seats. Repairs were also desperately need. Not until 1843 was an acceptable plan drawn up, by Robert Hesketh, to extend the church 30ft westwards by means of transepts, providing 524 extra seats. Gas lighting was installed and in 1853 the first Willis organ was built, Henry Willis himself being employed as organist.
In 1871 suggestions were again made for ‘beautifying and improving’ the church. Once again endless arguments ensued – not least on the proposal to demolish the tower which gave rise to a petition signed by the cream of artistic and literary London – William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Holman Hunt, Ford Madox Brown, Anthony Trollope, George du Maurier, Coventry Patmore, F. T. Palgrave and others. The Trustees gave in and the church was extended westwards in 1877-8 under plans drawn up by F.P. Cockerell. This building was consecrated on 1st June 1878 by the Bishop of London.
The inside was realigned, the altar being moved to the west end.
Some more information about the history of our church in Hampstead can be found on page 10 but for now let’s take ……..
…………. A tour of the church
The engraved glass doors were given in 1995 in memory of Rosemary, Lady Goodison. A sprig of rosemary is incorporated into the design around the handle. The Lamb and the Eagle symbolise St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist respectively and, like the stained-glass windows over the altar, indicate the church’s ambivalence about which St John the dedication refers to. Sir Alan Goodison’s name was added following his death in 2006. The design of the doors was conceived and carried out by Tony Gilliam. The window over these doors depicting the Road to Emmaus was designed by Mary Temple Moore (whose memorial can be found at the foot of the chancel steps) and installed by Reginald Bell, in 1929.
The font by the east door, symbolising entry into the Church by Baptism, incorporates the bowl of the 1745 font, the stem being removed to form the piscina in the chapel (not now used as it was found to drain into one of the newly constructed rooms in the Crypt!); a dedication to George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, is placed immediately above the piscina.
Moving into the centre aisle, turn round and look up at the rear gallery wall to see The Commandment Boards, carved by Thomas Ady for the new church. They were restored in 1979, having been concealed for many years under paintings. They are described as some of the best in England.
In 1766 it was pointed out at a meeting of the Vestry that it was a legal obligation to put up the King’s Arms in the church. These now hang on the east gallery rail, having been rediscovered during alterations in 1911-2 The pulpit is the same as that in the 1745 church, repositioned in 1878, though it was lowered and the sounding board removed for its new position. The pillars of the sounding board form part of the reredos behind the high altar.
The present Father Willis organ, installed in 1884, has been much altered over the years and work completed in 1997 has restored it more nearly to the original Willis sound, incorporating modern technology and making a versatile instrument suitable for a variety of uses.
The Choir Stalls were funded by Reginald Prance and designed by T.G. Jackson. Prance financed a large part of the chancel and made a significant contribution to the building fund. Since Henry Willis was not noted for the excellence of his organ cases we are particularly fortunate that Jackson designed the organ case as a unit with the choir stalls. Made of walnut the case adds an elegant touch to the chancel.
In 1911-12 a new architect, Temple Moore, drew up designs for improving the Vestries and adding a Morning Chapel, now the Sacrament Chapel, dedicated to St Mary and St John.
The large prie-deux in the chapel were given in memory of Mildred Aline Bell who died on the Matterhorn in 1901 and who is buried in the Churchyard.
The Altar Piece in the chapel was painted by Donald Towner of Church Row, in memory of his mother. True to the medieval tradition Towner used a local resident as the model for Mary, his nephew for John and his own mirror image for Christ. (In recent years we have been fortunate to have had a variety of artworks loaned to us for the chapel so the Towner painting is not always on display.)
Stained glass windows
The church was fortunate to have as one of its parishioners (and churchwarden for 16 years) Alfred Bell of Clayton and Bell. Alfred Bell not only designed the windows in the north and south aisles but gave most of them in memory of his children during the 1870s and 1880s. Bell is said to have favoured a medieval feel for the nave which he abandoned for the transept scenes. The Virgin and Child in the north transept was used by Clayton and Bell to illustrate their trade brochure and a very similar set of windows to those in our lower aisle can be found in Christ Church, Ellerslie, New Zealand.
The West windows “Christ in Glory” flanked by John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, were designed by Ellis Wooldridge in 1884 and executed by Powells. At this period in Powells’ history they were associated with architect T G Jackson, who designed the choir stalls and organ so it may perhaps be assumed they worked together on this project.
Much more recent, and completely different in style, is the window in the clergy vestry to the side of the chapel of St Mary and St John (now in a separate room but still visible). Created by Joanna Fulleylove (a local artist) this window is dedicated to a soldier of the 1st World War. Fulleylove studied at The Slade between 1907-08; this is said to be her first window.
In 2012 a new clergy vestry was built in the north side of the Sacrament Chapel with money donated by parishioners. The glass doors match the style of the main doors and commemorate relatives of the donor.
As you arrived you will have come in through the Cast iron gates and railings which came from Cannons, the Duke of Chandos’ home, where Handel was organist. 59ft of railings and two 9ft gates were purchased at a cost of £62.17s.0d and altered to fit the front of the church. [1]
[1] Trustees Minutes 7th March 1747
Decoration in the church was for many years ornately Victorian and very dark. The new lighter scheme adopted in 1958 gives more of an impression of the lightness of the church in 1747 when it would have been largely whitewashed. In 1964 and 1989 rooms were added in the arcading under the west end of the church to accommodate our expanding Sunday School and provide parish rooms for a multiplicity of uses. These were extensively refurbished in 2009.
Many of the altar frontals in use today were worked by Miss Barbara Thomson who also masterminded the replacement of the hassocks, coordinating a team of parish volunteers.
The South Chapel, for many years unused, has now been re-instated with a cross in memory of John and Rotha Barnfield and a laudian and set of altar frontal panels in memory of Lady Willmer. In keeping with its early 20th century dedication as a Children’s Chapel, it currently provides a soft area for children where their work can be displayed.
Now for some history
Domesday Book makes no reference to monks, chapels or churches but does acknowledge the link with Westminster:The Abbot of St Peter’s holds Hamestede [for] 4 hides. [There is] land for 3 ploughs. To the demesne belongs 3 ½ hides and there is 1 plough. The villans have 1 plough and there could be another. There is 1 villan on 1 virgate, and 5 bordars on 1 virgate, and 1 slave. [There is] woodland for 100 pigs. All together it is worth 50s. TRE 100s.
In the sawmill Ranulph Peveral holds under the abbot 1 hide of the land of the villans. [There is] land for half a plough, and there is [half a plough]. This land was and is worth 5s. The whole of this manor belonged and belongs to the demesne of St Peter’s Church.
[ ] indicates a gap in the manuscript text either left blank by the scribe for an insertion to be added later or as a result of erasure.
ST PETER’S: Westminster Abbey. St Peter’s also held varying amounts of land all around the outskirts of London and in particular 20 hides in Hendon to which we will return later.
HIDE: standard unit of assessment for tax purposes. Notionally the amount of land which would support a household; divided into 4 virgates.
VIRGATE: ¼ hide = 1 yardland
VILLAN: A peasant of higher economic status than a bordar and living in a village. Notionally unfree because subject to manorial court.
BORDAR: cottager, a peasant of lower economic status than a villan.
DEMESNE: Land in Lordship whose produce is devoted to the Lord rather than his tenants.
TRE: Tempore Regis Edwardi (during King Edward’s reign)
Various references to Hampstead crop up over the years. Land grants in 1133, rent to the Abbey kitchen in 1214-22. There are names too – Richard de Balta, Abbot William de Humez, Ralph of Yeoveney, Constantine son of Aluf and Alice, Sibyl and Andrew de Grendan – all held land or were granted fees. The knights templar held land in Hampstead in the mid 13th century. It was on the pilgrimage route to St Albans, though the impenetrable forests made travelling particularly hazardous as hiding both beasts of prey and highwaymen. But nothing about a church. Indeed by this time Westminster Abbey was employing workers on the land – what happened to the monks? The Abbey seemed to have granted away much of its land in Hampstead about this time – short of funds perhaps? A familiar problem.
A church is first mentioned in 1244-8 as part of Hendon (remember Westminster Abbey also owned Hides in Hendon) when the land was held by the Barentyns from Henry II. Christopher Wade, in Hampstead Past,[1]offers the opinion that the building illustrated in the engraving View of the Old Church at Hampstead by John Goldar, shows architecture indicating a construction date of around 1220-40, having, as it appears, a Romanesque 2-light East window. The church pictured is a mixture of styles and the engraving was not published until after its demolition. At least it is the right church – a similar engraving attributed to Hampstead Church after 1745 actually shows Hendon Church.
In 1312 there were 40 customary dwellings and six freehold houses and the demesne farms; the church was closer to the manor house (in Frognal) than the village. And it is at this time that we finally get a dedication – to St Mary – and in 1317 find a reference to ‘The Church of St Mary in the Fields’. Was it St Mary Magdalene or St Mary the Virgin? This is a not unfamiliar issue for a church that still doesn’t know to which St John it’s dedicated. It was not until the 15th century that the dedication was finally fixed on St Mary the Virgin. In 1318 the Chapel of St Mary was charged with saying masses for the souls of the Brabazons (The Brabazons had come over with William the Conqueror and in the mid 12th century Sir Roger de Brabanzon of Moseley possessed the manor of Belsize). The monks may not have farmed here any longer but they did come for hawking and hunting in Bishop’s wood and there were orchards, a kitchen garden and lawns for their needs and comfort and they owned the windmill on Windmill Hill. The Abbots also maintained a gallows at Hampstead – not for the monks one hopes. The parish priest lived at Hall Grange where the courts sat and it was to Hall Grange in 1349 that Abbot Simon de Borcheston and 26 of his monks fled from the plague at Westminster. They all died there. After the plague Hampstead ceased to be the home farm of Westminster.
Was this early Chapel the building that lasted till 1745 and was pulled down to make way for the present building? It seems unlikely as, in 1365, a church and cemetery were dedicated by the Bishop of London.
We do know something about the clergy…….
In 1333 Stephen de Duddelye, King’s Clerk, was made a grant of the Chapel, in the King’s gift, by reason of his custody of lands and heir of Gilbert de Barentyn.
The Vicarii boards in the porch are silent on what happened from then until 1413 but other sources record that in 1382 John Abbyndon (de Abbyndon) a parish priest of Hampstede failed to appear regarding a debt of 40s. He got into much more trouble in 1384 when he was ‘imprisoned at suit of Walter Wodewarde for rape and abduction of Maud his wife at Hampstead, his goods and chattels.’ [1]
It seems that Hampstead was linked to the parish of Hendon and sometimes, to save money, only one priest was employed to serve both, which may explain why we have to wait till 1413 to read about Joannes Bastard, vicar, and then wait until 1545 for the list to start again. Not that there wasn’t an active church during that time – on 15th April 1438 William Hunt, butcher, made a bequest to the parish church; in 1517 Richard Cloudesley bequeathed 2 torches (price 14s) and to 2 men of the parish 2 gowns (price 6s 8d). The parish priest benefitted 20d to the intent he pray for the testator by name openly in church every Sunday.
The Knights Hospitallers had been leasing the manor for 100 years when in 1535 the church, under Henry VIII, severed its links with Rome and Westminster became, briefly, a bishopric, the post being held by Thomas Thirlby from 1540 to 1550. He was the only bishop to hold the post and it was under him that Thomas Chapelyne was given the living in 1545. He only stayed a year, being replaced by Richard Gardener in 1546. At that time the church had 147 communicants and as almost everyone was a communicant, this forms roughly the population record of Hampstead (and coincidentally also mirrors roughly the communicant size of the church today).
Gardener had sundry charitable bequests to help him along – 20s 4d to supply a light upon the high altar; 6s 8d for the distribution of bread every Good Friday – 5d to the priest, 13d to the poorest households. He was paid variously 6s.8d and 22d for an obite (probably a yearly memorial service)
Having been a poor area, Hampstead’s fortunes began to change, and by the 16th century it was beginning to be a prosperous place. In 1600 the population was recorded as 200, by 1700 it was around 1,800. The woodland and its game were reserved to the king for hunting, laundresses moved to Hampstead to take advantage of the clean spring water, and the Royal household washing was done on the Heath. But the roads, formerly maintained by the monks, fell into disrepair.
Gardener may have continued in office until 1558, no one else is recorded, but the manor changed hands in 1550, being granted to Sir Thomas Wroth, allegedly a descendant of that Wroth who was chaplain to Becket. Wroth was under the guardianship of Lord Rich and married one of his daughters. A good Protestant, Wroth kept out of England during Mary’s reign and wasn’t here to see the destruction of the woodland and interference with the privileges of the common people. The manor passed to his son in 1606, by which time 4 more vicars had come and gone – Gulielmus Semer (1558-1561) Stephanus Castell (1561-1571). Thomas Pemerton (1571-1588) and Robert Smith who held the living from 1588-1612. Churchgoing was a serious business during this latter part of the 16th century – in 1582 the Gaol Delivery Rolls record that one John Phillips, gentleman, didn’t go to church from 1st October to 1st January and a similar charge was laid against John Sappton. Under the then existing law they would have been fined.
The first notable memorial recorded here was that of Armigell Wade of Belsize, in June 1568, whose grave in the chancel was adorned with an alabaster monument. His wife and daughter were also buried there. Wade or Waad, who until the dissolution of the monasteries had been clerk to the Council under Henry VIII and Edward VI, and who is known as the English Columbus, obtained a lease of “Old Belsize”—for so the house was called—for a term of two lives. He thereupon retired to Belsize House, where he ended his days in 1568.[2] Belsize had no church of its own at that time so it wasn’t surprising that they came up the hill for their daughter’s burial but later the rich and the good of the city, who surely didn’t make the not inconsiderable journey here for regular church-going, would beat a path to Hampstead for their burials.
Pew rents were a valuable source of income from the Protestant Reformation when the change to services including long sermons necessitated seating arrangements. Here at St John’s pew rents were to continue until well after the Second World War. Pews were rented to families for their exclusive use, bequeathed to descendants or attached to properties. In 1618 John Lockerson and his wife disputed the ownership of a pew with Henry Fleetwood and his daughters, the Fleetwood family contending that the pew was attached to their house.
A compromise was reached – Mrs Lockerson sharing it with the Fleetwood girls.
In 1623 plague again hit London and people fled to Hampstead for safety but whereas the plague of 1665 was to see many times the usual number of deaths in the parish (180, a quarter of the population and 7 times the average for the country; the parish clerk was one of them) the register for 1623-25 records no more than usual. Did they manage to come without bringing the disease with them or, as happened in many other parishes, did the resulting disaster put so great a strain on the church that burials went unrecorded?
The emphasis on preaching necessitated a change in the abilities of the priests. In 1629 Baptist Hickes, later Lord Campden, on his death re-endowed the church “for a preacher not for a priest” – parish priests seldom preached and this ensured some instruction to the people of Hampstead. John Sprint, appointed as such a preacher in 1633 during the incumbency of John Paddy, later became parish priest as well. He was not one for embracing the new and refused to use the Book of Common Prayer, preferring instead to stick with Pym and the Grand Remonstrance (a list of grievances approved by parliament and presented to King Charles I in 1641).
In 1645 the Book of Common Prayer (originally published in 1549) was removed from use. Sprint stayed on, set aside his convictions and became a Puritan. Perhaps he gave in to concentrate on his financial difficulties which seemed to be great at the time. He pleaded in 1645 that he had ‘a great charge and small means’ and was allocated £20 from the Committee for Plundered Minsters – which organisation was originally set up to replace and silence priests who left the church but became a support to those who stayed, encouraging them, no doubt, to turn from supporting the monarchy to supporting parliament. Sprint had an income of £87 13s 4d comprising £50 from Lord Campden and an ecclesiastical bequest of £32 13s. 4d, as well as petty tithes of lambs, wool, pigs and fruit allowed by the Lord of the Manor to the minister for his life, and the vicarage – a messuage standing in the town of Hampstead. He also apparently had ‘a great charge of children’ and asked for more money to help with their upkeep. His burial is recorded on 19 October 1658.
During the latter part of the 17th century the manor changed hands several times. Lord Campden died in 1682 and it went to his son Edward Noel, later Earl of Gainsborough. On his death in 1689 he was succeeded by his son Wriothesley Baptist, who only held the title for a year before dying and passing it to his son Baptist, 3rd Earl of Gainsborough, Viscount Campden. Baptist sold the manor to Sir William Langhorne, an ex-Governor of Madras, in 1707. Langhorne’s second wife was the daughter of Revd Robert Warren DD, later to become vicar of Hampstead in 1735. We may suppose the living stayed in the family till 1762 as Robert was succeeded by another Langhorne Warren. Eventually the manor passed to distant relatives of the Langhornes—the Maryons—who held it until 1929 when it was sold, finally ending up with the Diocesan Board of Patronage.
It was with much glee that the residents of Hampstead noted the movements of the royal family through their village. In 1593 it is recorded that Queen Elizabeth passed through and in 1619 King James and Buckingham spent the night at the Old Chicken House (apparently a hunting lodge) in Rosslyn Hill. A commemorative window was put up there, was then moved to Branch Hill Lodge, then to the family seat at Dagham Park, Romford. (A small piece of it somehow ending up attached to the window in our Choir Vestry). In 1689 when William of Orange passed through ringers were paid 1s to mark the event; they were paid 6s in 1692 when it was Queen Mary’s turn but only 1s 6d when she passed through again in 1694.
In 1709 the parishioners, less keen on drama than they are now, brought an action, headed by the incumbent Revd Humphrey Zouch, against a Hampstead playhouse.
Information about memorials in the church can be found in the Tomb Trails – one of the most notable being the bust of John Keats, carved by Miss Anne Whitney of Boston, Massachusetts, and donated in 1894 by American admirers of the poet. Keats lived for some time in Hampstead before going to Rome where he died. A leaflet giving more information about Keats and the bust is usually to be found on the shelf below.
Other Tomb Trails cover the Old Churchyard and the Additional Burial Ground over the road and are freely available from the shelf near the main door. We are indebted to Camden Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund for the production of these trails.
One recent acquisition not included in the Tomb Trails is the memorial to George Steevens high on the wall of the Lady Chapel, over the clergy vestry. Steevens (1736 -1800) was a parishioner, living at the Upper Flask (now the site of Queen Mary’s House) from 1771 until his death. He had family connections in Poplar however, so he was buried there and this memorial, sculpted by John Flaxman RA ( 1755 – 1826) erected. After that church was deconsecrated in 1977 the memorial was moved to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, where it was left in store for almost all of the last 40 years. The sculpture conservator from the museum who brought it to Hampstead said that his first task at the Fitzwilliam 40 years ago was moving it from Poplar to Cambridge
The inscription runs:
In the middle aisle of this chapel
lie the remains of George Steevens, esq.
who, after having cheerfully employed
a considerable portion of his life and fortune
in the illustration of Shakspeare,
expired at Hampstead the 22nd day of January 1800
in his 64th year.Peace to these reliques, once the bright attire
W.H.
Of spirits sparkling with no common fire;
How oft has pleasure in the social hour
Smil’d at his wit’s exhilarating power;
And truth attested with delight intense
The serious charms of his colloquial sense:
His talents, varying as the diamond’s ray,
Could strike the grave, or fascinate the gay.
His critic labours of unwearied force
Collected light from every distant source;
Want with such true beneficence he cheer’d,
All that his bounty gave, his zeal endear’d;
Learning as vast as mental power could seize,
In sport displaying, and with graceful ease;
Lightly the stage of checquer’d life he trod,
Careless of chance, confiding in his God.
In the same grave repose the remains
Elizabeth Steevens,
Cousin of the said
George Steevens
She died the 26th of January 1801
A full History of the Parish Church by Prof Michael Port is available in the church (Special reduced price £3)
© 2024 J.E.
[1] Close Rolls 24th June 1384
[2] 4 ‘Hampstead: Belsize and Frognal’, Old and New London: Volume 5 (1878), pp. 494-504. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report
[1] Historical Publications 1989